Tag: thyroid cancer

Sorry for the radio silence. Last Tues, April 9, I went to my endocrinologist, expecting nothing but total routine, same as it’s been for the last 9 years. Then she told me that my ultrasound showed an abnormal lymph node on the left side of my neck. That’s the side with my one remaining good [...]

Great summary of thyroid surgery risks and complications, from Dr. Chris Chang’s blog. During my surgery for papillary thyroid cancer, my right recurrent laryngeal nerve was severed (a thyroplasty surgery restored my voice), and I lost at least 2 of my parathyroid glands. I’m now on max doses of calcuim and Vitamin D for the [...]

After we got the “indefinite wait” for surgery in Toronto, my Mom (who lives in Houston), phoned M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s Head and Neck department and secured an appointment about 10 days later. In the US, if you have the money to pay for the treatment (I ultimately spent about $50,000 in total over ~4 [...]

A small team of 8-10 volunteers has raised over $1.65 million towards a Chair in Voice Care and Research at St. Michael’s Hospital (SMH) in Toronto. A fully funded endowed “chair”, which is simply a permanently reserved bucket of money that kicks off interest every year, is $3 million. We’re more than halfway there! This [...]